Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

REV3 Don’t Believe the Hype

Bitter, party of one, your table is now available….

Remember THAT rap song, Don’t Believe the Hype with Flava Flav? Yeah, that’s about what I have to say about the REV3 series, but mostly about their ‘customer service.’ For a $250 entry fee and a second home mortgage, you too can enter a race with all the amenities and have NO FINISHING TIME. Yes, people, that’s me #425, DNS … when, in fact, I did show. Not only did I show, I would have been 4th or 5th…that’s if their race results that ARE posted are even correct. Who knows. Post race I was assured that timing and scoring issues were being worked out and that they would be corrected. I was told this in person by a REV3 Director, of some kind. She hands me her card and says, email me if you have any issues. Well, for two days, I’ve been emailing anyone on their contact list. Yep, nada, no response. I am a reasonable person, maybe a little nuts, but reasonable. For $250 I DO expect customer service. If I go to a high end restaurant and something is wrong with my meal, I expect it to be corrected … at a minimum, hell, give me a free dessert for my trouble. That is the part that is MOST disappointing, no response at all. Weak at best. As you might imagine, this is my impression of the REV3 series. Yes, people, just like WTC and NA Sports, it’s about the money. Understandably, any company is in the business of making money. However, as the price tag goes up, so do my expectations. I think for any race the MINIMUM expectation is correct timing and scoring. Hell, at this point, a phone call and an apology would do. I’ll even send you back your t-shirts.

Besides my ‘killer good’ experience there were highlights. Let me start by saying, my friends, team mates and coach (they are interchangeable) are the best. At least, WE had fun during our last ‘workout’. Yeah, this was just a workout for me SINCE I HAVE NO FINISHING TIME AND COULD HAVE DONE THAT SHIT ON MY OWN, but I digress. I will save my workout report for later but pre-race always brings on some hilarity in my neck of the woods.

Since this was not an A Race for me (thank gawd, can you imagine how pissed I’d really be), I was very relaxed or lax in my knowledge of the course, swim start etc. It was not something I was going to worry about. We did a baby sized workout on Saturday that involved me, some train tracks, my bathing suit and a serious raspberry on my arse. I was bruised, battered but we forged on. I wanted to cry just a little but I didn’t. It freakin hurt. Now, I just have a bruised arse with an extra crack in it. This was only the beginning of the karma or cloud that was to follow us all weekend long…

Pre-race dinner – HellO, if there’s a Mellow Mushroom in your town, we are there. Holy shit, you said draft beers are $2!?!?! The good one’s even? You mean we can have a total blast on $10!?! Crap, we have to race tomorrow you said…and coach came with us to dinner and cut our asses off after one beer. Sonofabitch, who invited THIS guy? We know Mrs. Swami would have totally supported our decision.

Anyway, I did realize that the swim start was a bit of a walk from T1. What about my tender baby feet? Baaahahaha. Flip flops, cheap flip flops from the Walgreens to walk to the swim start. Yeah, uh, two blisters and red dye lead poisoning from my cheap ass flip flops later, I’m at the swim start. And that’s how the day STARTED…

I am literally gasping in horror! That is the shittiest thing I have ever heard about a race. I thought running out of water could be the worst. Heads need to roll for this, I think 4AM wake up calls to the director every day would make me feel like I got a little piece of revenge.

I'll be spreading the word on that crap. You got robbed!I hope you were able to at least get a total time on your watch. Glad you didn't bust yourself up too badly.Can't wait to hear the rest of the story.

I haven't heard too many positive things about this particular Rev3 race yet. If this was Rev3's very first race, maybe there would be some additional wiggle room, but they had a HUGE race last year and then had an entire year to work on stuff. Just no excuses, really. Anyway, it makes me very glad that I've chosen B2B as my "A" race this year. As I gain more experience in this sport, I'm beginning to realize that often these smaller, local events are run SO much better.

Argh, well... hopefully you'll tell us how the day 'continued' in a future edition. Again, so sorry that you had to deal with this shiz.

Missy,I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I am a triathlete as well and timing is important to me just as much as you. I am more unhappy than you (believe me) that there were some errors in the timing results but I can assure you that we are working to get them corrected as soon as possible and we are determined to make our races better and won't be satisfied until they are. Operating a new race in a new city for the first time presents a million different challenges and we learn so much after the first year. Rev3 is committed to providing top quality races into the future. We would be happy to provide you a discount on a future Rev3 race for your troubles if you should choose to race again with us. Again, I apologize for your issues. Best Regards, Eric....Rev3 Race Director

SHIT, no race results? You should have gotten plastered the night before on $2 beers and barfed all over the race organizers coming out of the water... what does it matter, you weren't really there anyway, right??

As money mungering (is that a word?) as they are, WTC still puts on a good show (mostly) and you do get race results...

No matter what you pay for an entry fee, you deserve the courtesy of a response without having to blog about it. And a $250 entry fee is even more of a disappointment. I understand you roll the dice somewhat with a new race, but that's ridiculous.

Note to self. NEVER do a Rev3 event. Thank Gawd it wasn't an A race. Heads would be rolling right now.

I agree with Tri Mommy. Fuck a discount. It would take a free entry to get me back there. It must be alot of people they screwed up if they aren't even comping next years event. Chances are, they couln't afford it if it's that many.

I like Heather Gollnick. She knows what athletes want in a race and tries to provide the little things that we would like and don't ever expect.

The race course was tough, not doubt about it, but that is probably what you deserve in TN. The registration was painless. The volunteers were fantastic. Organization wise, the race was pretty well run.

Then, enter Trakekrs... LOL... I'm sure Rev3 is pulling their hair out about that, and really, they should do a better job of communicating with their athletes. I'm sure this is still a learning experience for them, and I hope they DO get better in the future.

Congrats on a great race out there. I'm glad my (official) time was better than yours :-)

Awesome race/training result! Way to go! If it is of any matter, a couple of companies up here have taken teh money route to organzaing races, they are now bankrupt! Sending you good karma for the upcoming party! Cheers

wow, can't wait for the rest of the report! I think the RD that replied missed the point- you didn't blog about your displeasure until after you had sent multiple emails that went unacknowledged. Shit happens, new race or not. But the customer service FAIL is really unexcusable. It only takes a minute to reply to an email, even if you don't have an answer- just to say WE HEAR YOU, we are working on it, whatever. Companies that charge large entry fees and then hide behind the "we're new here, we didn't know better, next time will be different' piss me off the most. If you are new and it is a testing race then at least offer a discount for the people who are signing up for your practice round! Anyway, hope your bum feels better :)

As you know Missy, I raced it too. (this is Jase BTW). Traffic was a joke. I almost hit a car going down hill about 30 MPH. I really was suprised at the lack of traffic control. The cops were pretty good, but otherwise, not so much. Going into T2, I had a guy pointing down at this white line telling me to dismount. Come to find out thhe dismount line was 30 feet away! I didn't really mind the walk to the swim, CWF is the same way. Could've done with a little more of a heads up about some of the climbs. That being said, it was in Knoxville, what do you expect. I was suprised at the lack of support on the bike route. The two water stations were about 5 miles apart. That was kind of weird.

But again, for me, I loved going through campus, but I'm an alum. I did enjoy the run through the park. But crossing bike traffic was a bit of a joke.

WTFH?!?!?!? That is just NUTS!! period....I'm so sorry...U know...U spend coin..U expect customer service. JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. Hell, if U showed up and decided to sneak onto the course and race, tehy'd be pissed off!!!

Hell YES my hand is on Lieto's ass! Are you kidding me? When will I get the chance again!?

From the feedback both here and emails I have received, I might just be thankful that lost time and money is all I've got. Apparently, others were not as 'fortunate' as I was (and got hit on course). Yikes! For that, I am thankful because I've got some racing to do....

I'm so sorry you went through this experience! From this thread, though - it looks like an interesting discussion... I agree on one of the points though - it was nice of the RD to contact you...but only AFTER reading your blog. It seems like a lot went wrong last weekend...based on the reviews that I've read and heard about. And I completely agree, for $250, you deserve to have the quality of race you signed up for and they promised. I really really hope that REV 3 can get their stuff in order...we need other races and other series to compliment the WTC Empire....just maybe not this kind...

Sorry to hear that your timing chip was bad! I know that Rev3 Timing is working their butts off to get things fixed.

There had to have been something worth enjoying at the race, though- right? Small swim waves, perhaps, where you weren't getting pummeled by other swimmers? Crazy large pro field that you could see out on the course? Lots of stuff for kids to do while the race was going on? Absolutely beautiful course with tons of volunteers? Plenty of aid stations, signage, and cops? :)

With Quassy coming up, the Rev3 organizers are going to pull out all stops and make it the best run race they can, because they know what can go wrong (obviously) and they will know what they need to do to make sure that problems like this don't happen again.

I hate that you had to be one that experienced cracks of this race, but I hope you can understand that there are so many responsibilities for race directors across the board, whether its a first-year event in a new location or an event that has been going on for years and years. There are so many things they try to do that doesn't always work out flawlessly. In this instance, the timing system had a few glitches. It worked great for most of the racers, but just not every single one. And aside from from not having an ACTUAL time, did you have a GOOD time (before and during the race, that is!)?!?

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. It really would be frustrating if a time didn't show up for me. We go through the race, have a FEELING about how we did, and then want that reassurance at the finish line. We want to see our times and confirm that we are the badass that we think we are! ;)

I have a few comments though....and I'm just throwing them out for a little perspective (my own personal perspective, so take it how you want to).

1) In a sport where timing is everything, if you as the RD just had a big event with major timing issues, wouldn't you spend the immediate next week buried in the details of figuring out WHAT went wrong? I understand you want answers and want things rectified right away, but if it were me, I'd be willing to wait for actual answers than get the fluff "thank you for contacting us we’ll be with you soon" that you'd likely get in the first 48 hours. I'd give them a little more room to figure stuff out considering the race just ended and they are probably still tearing stuff down….but that's just me.

2) Everyone I talked to after the race had a great time overall. They loved the course and the venue, and want to sign up for 2011. Yes, there were issues, but I've never been to a race that DIDN'T have some sort of issues. Hell, the almighty Ironman royally screwed up at IM Cozumel with everything from water and gel at aid stations (ran out, bottles didn’t work, etc), timing mats (didn’t register, lag in update to the website), and even special needs bags (not sorted, no one to do hand-ups, tables in the middle of SAND that ended up in my bike shoes). Did those things put a damper on my day? Yep. I still say it was a great race and would recommend it to others because the swimming and biking and running was very enjoyable overall. IM has been doing races how long??? And they are still screwing stuff up? This is Rev3’s second race ever. I’m gonna give them some slack.

3) I’m anxious to see your actual race report (or workout report) and know what you felt about the event itself. Despite the things that RDs do for us, we as athletes make the race what it truly is. We all know the rules, we all know how to be courteous and how to make the best out of a situation. We all know that being SAFE is #1, and we should still look both ways before we cross the street.

I really am hoping they get the timing sorted out and get you your results as you deserve. And I do hope you’ll make it to another Rev3 race in the future.

I have responded to many of these posts individually as they have come from either REV3 or Team Trakkers. Here's the deal, keep my finish time, if you told me today that you could not recover it but you were going to do XYZ to make it right...I'm totally down with that. In fact, Ive told that to anyone that will listen. My beef is the response or lack thereof. I don't care that the race was Sunday - post it on the website and I'll stop bugging you. There was NO indication that anyone was going to even look into to. To my knowledge, their other timing issues had been resolved and closed.

Hello Missy, this is Keith's better half Linda - always check the fine print & ask questions. Yes, the Rev3 promised you a superior experience - but did they specify what kind? Got enough room to drive a tractor trailer through that one - a superior screw up & over of an experience is still superior..... even though it wasn't what you signed up for:( Hope things go better for you at your next event!

I understand that you were rightfully upset about the timing glitches, but I think you need to put somethings in perspective. The race director likely had a few more important items to take care of after the race. I was involved with a pretty significant accident on the bike and the race director showed up at my hotel room that evening to personally check up on me and find out what happened and how they could make the race safer. This should be the number one goal of a RD. I have been in a number of races including WTC races (Ironman UK)which have had timing issues which delayed publishing the results for several days so I understand your frustration, but I think the RDs priorities were in the right place in this case.

I really hope they get the timing issue worked out before the next race. The series has potential and is a good thing in triathlon right now. But yeah, even though it was the first time in that city, it wasn't their first race they've put on.

Pretty big event, took the RD 2 days to respond to you personnely (not a message on the website), not too bad in my opinion. Whether or not they post your time won't change your experience will it? Will seeing your name in 5th in your AG make the race better? Just chalk it up to sh*t happens, has probably happend to thousands before you and will happen to thousands more.

IronMissy - it's official!

Enough about me, what do you think about me?

I'm not really great at swimming, biking or running...I'm just OK at all three! Hell, I pretty much just ride for fun and run for the company any more. I have dogs instead of kids and think that all my friends WITH kids are saints. I write as though I'm talking so forgive my "proper" use of grammar.